Customizing BackTrack

One of the drawbacks we found while using BackTrack 4 is that you need to perform a big upgrade (300MB to download) after you've installed it from the ISO or from the VMWare image provided. If you have one machine and a high speed Internet connection, there's nothing much to worry about. However, imagine installing BackTrack 4 in several machines, in several locations, with a slow internet connection.

The solution to this problem is by creating an ISO image with all the upgrades already installed. If you want to install BackTrack 4, you can just install it from the new ISO image. You won't have to download the big upgrade again.

While for the VMWare image, you can solve the problem by doing the upgrade in the virtual image, then copying that updated virtual image to be used in the new VMWare installation.

Besides easing the package upgrade, by customizing BackTrack you can adjust it to suit your needs. There may be a case where you don't need security tools provided by BackTrack 4 or you want to add additional software for your BackTrack installation. By customizing it, you don't need to waste your time removing, installing, and configuring software packages. You can just use your customized BackTrack!

To create an updated BackTrack ISO image, you need to install BackTrack to the hard disk first, either using the traditional installation or using the virtual machine environment.

Here are the steps that can be used to create an updated BackTrack ISO image:

  • Upgrade the existing BackTrack 4 to the latest one using:
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
  • Create a special directory to become the working directory for ISO creation. For example, to create a working directory named ISO, issue the command:
mkdir ISO
  • Copy the BackTrack 4 ISO image (bt4-final.iso) to that working directory. Suppose the ISO image is located in the current directory:
cp bt4-final.iso ISO
  • Download the BackTrack customization script :
wget offsec.com/bt4.sh
  • Move the downloaded script to the working directory:
mv bt4.sh ISO
  • Change to the working directory and run the script by giving the commands:
cd ISO
./bt4.sh
  • If there is no error, you will enter the live CD environment:
  • Upgrade the software packages in BackTrack:
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
  • You might need to be patient at this step, because these commands will take some time to upgrade your BackTrack 4 installation, depending on your Internet speed.
  • Delete retrieved software packages from local repository:
apt-get clean
  • Modify your BackTrack 4 by adding software package you need:
apt-get install <software_package>
  • Or removing one that you don't need:
apt-get remove <software_package>
  • After you are satisfied with your modification, you can generate the new ISO image by typing exit to quit from the live CD environment:
exit
  • Be aware that this process will take a long time to finish. The generated ISO image file will have size according to the software packages chosen. If you add many software packages the ISO image file generated may be bigger than the default ISO image file which is 1.5GB.
  • Next you need to test the newly generated ISO image file. You can use QEMU or virtual environment in another machine to do this. The fastest way to test it is by using the QEMU command :
qemu -cdrom bt4-final.iso
  • In the booting menu list, choose Start BackTrack in text mode. In my machine, it took around 3 minutes from booting to the root prompt. You can then test the software packages you have installed. If there are no problems, the newly generated ISO image file can be used for the BackTrack installation.
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